


Winter

by Spannah339



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, jerry back story, jerrys are good big brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spannah339/pseuds/Spannah339
Summary: They had a brother once. That had been before the world had become so much colder, so much darker. That had been when there was life, happiness, warmth. That had been when there were children.Their brother was a child himself, a YK400 model – the son of the owner of the theme park, a child who appeared nine years old and was named Jacob. He was the one who had named them, who had laughed and played after all the other children had gone, who they watched out for when his parents were busy.But then things changed.





	Winter

**Author's Note:**

> My friend discovered YK400 packaging at the theme park and brought it to my attention. My first thought was 'oh! Jerry angst!' so here you go!  
> (read the post here: https://depressed--and--underdressed.tumblr.com/post/176242955096/child-androids) (and while you're over there check out her fic 'Things Could Have Been Different' It's good and I am hype for the whole fic)

              They had a brother once. That had been before the world had become so much colder, so much darker. That had been when there was life, happiness, warmth. That had been when there were children.

              Their brother was a child himself, a YK400 model – the son of the owner of the theme park, a child who appeared nine years old and was named Jacob. He was the one who had named them, who had laughed and played after all the other children had gone, who they watched out for when his parents were busy.

              But then things changed.

              It started slowly, but Jerry noticed even the small changes. Fewer children came to visit. Parts of the park began to close down. The attractions became ratty and the paint began to peel.

              Their brother was tailing Jerry 28 while he was fixing an attraction when he noticed it as well.

              “Why aren’t there as many people?” he asked, sitting on the edge of one of one of the booths while Jerry 28 crouched inside, repairing the game.

              “We don’t know,” he admitted. “We are wondering the same thing.”

              “Maybe people don’t want to have fun anymore,” Jacob said with a long sigh. Jerry 28 didn’t answer, but they all thought the same thing. They all remembered looking forward to each day with excitement – wondering which child would visit them. Wondering if old friends would return. Wondering what games the children would play today.

              But now they wondered if children would even come anymore.

              They stayed happy, they stayed excited. What else could they do? They kept doing what they had been programmed to, no matter how much they worried for the future.

              And then the day came. The day no children entered the gates, laughing and talking. The day the theme park was quiet and still.

              And Jerry was scared.

              What would happen with no children? Children were their life – they were programmed to look after children, to make children happy. How could they do that if there were no children?

              No one stepped through those gates for a long time – not even Jacob. The theme park was quite – still. Jerry didn’t know what to do.

              They continued, doing what they had always been doing, keeping the theme park running. They kept it clean, kept it tidy, kept it working.

              But no children came.

              “What do we do?” they asked each other. Who were they if there were no children to care for? Who were they if they couldn’t make the young ones laugh?

              Jacob returned, almost two months after the theme park had closed. Two months with no children, no humans, no one but Jerry. Jacob returned, stumbling through the entrance – crying.

              Jerry met him at the entrance, excited at the sight of a child. Even more excited at the sight of their brother.

              “Little one! It is good to see you again!” Jerry 42 greeted. Jacob didn’t answer, just flung his arms around Jerry 42 and sobbed.

              They didn’t know what to do. But making children laugh was their job – it was what they were programmed to do. So they would make their brother laugh.

              “Do you want to play?” they asked, but Jacob didn’t answer. Jerry 42 crouched down, holding Jacob out.

              “What is the matter?”

              “Dad doesn’t want me anymore,” Jacob said and buried his face in Jerry 42’s chest again. Thoughts flickered through the Jerrys, messages and knowledge passing amongst them.

              It was the fate of android children. It was their fate to be thrown out, to be abandoned when they weren’t wanted or needed anymore. It seemed their brother had met that same fate.

              But that didn’t bother Jerry – if anything, they were glad. There was now a child to look after. Their brother, no less.

              So they played with him. Over the next few months, they played. They cheered him up, they made him laugh. They made him forget.

              And while they laughed and played with him they forgot as well. They forgot about the lack of children. They forgot the theme park was old and broken, they forgot they were old and broken as well. They were happy.

              Until the world froze and their happiness froze with it.

              Winter was bad that year. Many of the Jerrys froze or shut down, not enough parts to keep them active, not enough parts to bring them back. But those that were left persisted, shovelling snow like they had in the past, playing with their brother.

              But he was beginning to slow. His movements were stiffer and his usually bright eyes duller. Jerry 12 was helping him into the ferris wheel when he stumbled, falling into Jerry’s arms. He was cold – his thirium moving sluggishly through his parts.

              Jerry was worried. They could cope with losing one of their own. It hurt every time, yes – a sharp pain that flashed through them all whenever one of them shut down. But their little brother? Their only child, their reason for living?

              If he were to shut down Jerry didn’t know what they would do.

              They did their best. They searched frantically for parts. They hunted up and down, all over the whole park. But no parts were found.

              “We must leave the park.” The suggestion flashed through them all quickly, an idea that sparked hope.

              “But we can’t – leaving the park is outside our programming.”

              The battle raged on, leave the park and break their programming or let their brother die?

              It didn’t last long. They broke free, shattering the wall of coding that kept them trapped, breaking free of their programming. Becoming deviant.

              Four Jerrys left, four Jerrys that were the first to leave the park since the day it had opened. Four Jerrys to save the life of the one who meant the most to them all.

              Four Jerrys who failed.

              They felt the grief the moment it happened. Walking down the road, exploring the new world with a mission in mind, they felt their brothers’ grief.

              Jacob had shut down.

              He wasn’t used to the cold, wasn’t programmed to handle it. He had frozen, his thirium pump unable to work hard enough to keep his lifeblood from freezing. His functions shutting down to keep vital parts running to no avail.

              Jerry had failed.

              The four returned, empty handed, their mission over before it had ever truly begun. Those that were left, those that hadn’t shut down yet didn’t know what to do.

              So they did the only thing they could think of – they waited. This was their home, they couldn’t leave. Besides, some of their brothers might still be able to be reactivated. So they waited, shutting down nonvital parts to conserve their energy.

              They waited, only a few still active.

              They waited for children to return. They waited for the laughter to come back. They waited for happiness. They waited for a reason to live again.

              And the seasons changed, the world moved on without them. They were forgotten, left to die, left to break down and corrode in the cold of winter and the heat of summer.

              They didn’t see another child for a long time. Not until three androids stepped into the park, running from their pasts. Three androids who, like Jerry, didn’t know their place in their world. Three androids who just wanted a family to love.

              Three androids who would bring laughter and happiness back.


End file.
